German Contributions to the World
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Transcript German Contributions to the World
Past and Present
Prof. Albrecht Classen
University of Arizona
With some of the greatest
contributions to world culture,
literature, the arts, technology,
medicine, philosophy, and religion
Charlemagne and the Rise of
Europe
First Germanic Empire north of the Alps, after the fall
of the Roman Empire (8th century)
German and English
English is a Germanic language!
Anglo-Saxon as the basis of modern English (with
strong Anglo-Norman superstructure since 1066)
Gun Powder
14th century: Berthold Schwartz (perhaps a legend)
Radical transformation of all military operations
Brought an end to medieval knighthood
(ok, the first were the Chinese, then the Arabs, in late
antiquity the Byzantines with their Greek Fire, and in
the 13th c. Roger Bacon)
Printing Press: Johann Gutenberg
Gutenberg invented the movable type in Mainz ca.
1450
Computer
Konrad Zuse: first construction in 1936, 1941 the first
functioning computer
Protestant Reformation: Martin
Luther
99 theses, Wittenberg, 1517
September Testament, 1522
Old Testament, 1532
Albrecht Dürer
Greatest sixteenth-century artist, at least north of the
Alps
Vacuum
Otto von Guericke 1663 (Mayor of Magdeburg),
discovers the principle of vacuum
Classical and Romantic Literature
Goethe and Schiller
Heine
Hölderlin
Heinrich von Kleist
Eichendorff
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
19th-21st Century German literature
Theodor Storm
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer
Theodor von Fontane
Thomas Mann
Bertolt Brecht
Hermann Hesse
Nelly Sachs
Heinrich Böll
Günter Grass
Herta Müller
Marxism
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
German Music
Bach
Händel
Telemann
Pachelbel
Mozart
Haydn
van Beethoven
Hindemith
Stockhausen
Chemistry: Justus von Liebig
1803-1873
Agricultural and biological chemistry
Telephone
Philipp Reis 1859
Dynamo
Werner von Siemens, 1866
The automobile
Daimler Benz
Porsche
Audi
VW
Opel
Blue Jeans
Levi Straus, 1873
Diesel engine
1890 Rudolf Diesel
Street Car
Werner von Siemens 1881
Tea bag
Adolf Rambold, 1929
Nuclear Physics
Otto Hahn 1938
Relativity Theory
Albert Einstein 1905
X-ray
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen 1895
In modern German we use the verb “röntgen” for ‘to x-
ray’
Aspirin
FELIX HOFFMANN (working for the company
Bayer)
1897
Bacteriology and Virology
Robert Koch, 1882: discovery of the tuberculosis
bacillus
Foundation of modern medical and biological
research
Spark Plug
Robert Bosch 1902
Beer
Purity Law issued by the Bavarian Dukes on April 23,
1516
Orthopedic leg
1997 Otto Bock introduces the C-Leg
Tooth paste
OTTOMAR HEINSIUS VON MAYENBURG 1907
Chip card
Jürgen Dethloff and Helmut Gröttrup: 1968 patent,
1977 micro processing card
Since then the world of credit cards and all other kinds
of cards based on chip memory
Screw Anchor, or raw plug/dowel
1958 Artur Fischer
Jet engine
Hans von Ohain 1936
Television
Manfred von Ardenne, 1930
1935 first regular tv program
Gliding plane
Otto von Lilienthal 1894
This inspired the Brothers Wright to experiment with
their first motorized planes
Light bulb
Heinrich Göbel 1854
Homeopathic medicine
Samuel von Hahnemann, 1797
Helicopter
Heinrich Focke, 1936
Coffee filter
Melitta Benz, 1908
She was just tired of handling all the waste coffee in
her drink and used, as a stop-gap measure, her son’s
ink-pad paper from school. Voila, the coffee filter was
invented.
Air bag
1971 Mercedes Benz develops the first effective air bag
Modern refrigerator
Company Foron 1993: Freon free refrigeration
This has revolutionized the global battle against the
depletion of the ozone layer
Motorcycle
Wilhelm Maybach and Gottlieb Daimler 1885
MP3 player
1993; Fraunhofer-Institute
Mouth Organ, or chromatic
harmonica
Christian Friedrich Burschmann, 1821
Wood based paper
Friedrich Gottlieb Keller 1843
Birth control pill
Schering company, 1961
Record player
Emil Berliner 1887
Scanner
Rudolf Hell 1951
Let’s not forget the countless
other inventions from all over
the world.
has been and continues to be an
amazing country and people!
It has contributed to a disproportionate degree to the
cultural and technological development of this world!
Thank you very much!
For further information, contact
me at:
[email protected]
520 621-1395